Model fuel desulfurization and denitrogenation using copper and cerium modified mesoporous material (MSU-S) through adsorption process

Abstract

The application of MSU-S, CeO2-MSU-S, and Cu2O-MSU-S in desulfurization and denitrogenation of model fuel containing benzothiophene (BT), dibenzothiophene (DBT), quinoline and carbazole were studied in batch and continuous process. The copper-modified MSU-S showed the highest capacity to adsorb sulfur and nitrogen compounds compared to other adsorbents. The adsorption selectivity of all adsorbents for nitrogen was slightly higher than for sulfur, indicating the selective adsorption of nitrogen over sulfur. The Langmuir model represented better equilibrium data fitting than Freundlich model for carbazole, DBT, and BT adsorption on MSU-S, CeO2-MSU-S, and Cu2O-MSU-S. It was found that quinoline adsorption data on MSU-S, CeO2-MSU-S, and Cu2O-MSU-S can be presented by Freundlich model very well. The kinetics of adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order model for all species over each adsorbent. According to the breakthrough curve order, the adsorptive selectivity for the adsorbates increased in the order of DBT < BT < carbazole < quinoline for MSU-S and CeO2-MSU-S, and BT < DBT < carbazole < quinoline for Cu2O-MSU-S.